


let this be a sign

by drunknpylades



Series: edge of memory [2]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: But only a little, Developing Relationship, First Kiss, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Sarcasm, Self-Sacrifice, cayde being himself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-13 02:40:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13560960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drunknpylades/pseuds/drunknpylades
Summary: Cayde opens his mouth when he shouldn't and Edge has to step in to keep his Vanguard out of trouble.





	let this be a sign

“You emotionless robotic bastard!”

 

The commotion near the entrance to the Vanguard hall catches everyone off guard. There’s a Titan storming down the steps, sans helmet and blood streaking the chestplate of his armor. A very worried looking Warlock is half a step behind him, blood on her robes and tears streaking their way through the dirt on her cheeks. 

 

Silence rings in the air until Cayde’s voice fills it. “I’m gonna just assume you’re talking to me, since I’m the only Exo here, but I’ll have you know that my mother was totally married when I was-”

 

“Don’t you dare try to play this off as a joke!” The Titan is at the head of the Vanguard table now, almost vibrating with pent up energy and electricity jumping across his shoulders. 

 

_ Striker.  _ Edge thinks to himself. He shifts his weight slightly onto the balls of his feet just in case the other Guardian has it in his head to start something. 

 

“That’s what got him killed!”

 

Cayde rocks back almost imperceptibly. Edge wouldn’t have noticed it unless he’d been looking. And he’d barely taken his eyes off the Exo since the situation began. “Someone dies and it’s my fault?” Cayde asks. “How does that make sense.”

 

Edge winces internally. Cayde has a habit of not showing any kind of emotional attachment when he’s in public and that has a history of making him seem flippant and uncaring. Apparently something along those lines has gone on here and this Titan is looking to get his pound of flesh out of the Vanguard. 

 

“You made the mission sound like a joke. A milk run.” The Titan is all coiled anger and electricity just looking for an outlet. His voice is clipped, tears and so many different emotions trying to get out that he’s barely keeping reigned in. “ _ In and out.  _ You said.  _ Could do it with my eyes closed.  _ You said. The Hive tore him apart and you sent us into it.”

 

Ikora straightens at her place at the head of the table. She’s the closest to the Titan and she takes a careful step toward him. “The Hive? You were on the Moon then?” Her eyes cut to the Warlock still barely holding herself together at the Titan’s elbow. “Selma, isn’t it? You’re saying Cayde sent you to Luna and something happened?”

 

The Warlock takes a watery breath and opens her mouth but no sound comes out. Only a short choked off sob. 

 

“Leave her alone.” The Titan interrupts. He takes a quick step to the side, placing himself in front of the Warlock and hiding her from everyone else’s line of sight. “This isn’t about what did or didn’t happen. This is about the fact that our Vanguard sent us into a tomb with no Light and didn’t think it was worth warning us about.”

 

Ikora raises one eyebrow and turns back to Cayde. “Is that true, Cayde?”

 

Cayde blinks once and the lights of his mouth flicker before he speaks. It’s something Edge has seen happen when the Vanguard is at a loss for words and is coming up with something on the fly. This is not going to go well. 

 

“Yeah, I sent them to Luna. We needed a Knight killed and I thought they could get the job done.” The flatness of his voice makes something ugly and dark rise up in Edge’s gut. Cayde turns to fully face the Titan. “I didn’t warn you about the loss of your Light because I thought you’d be smart enough to-“

 

Edge plants one hand in the center of Cayde’s chest and shoves hard. The Titan’s fist cracks across his cheek and electricity jumps across his jaw, traveling down his neck and making the whole right side of his body numb. He had moved without any kind of conscious thought. He’d seen the Titan shift his weight forward and knew what was coming. The next second Edge had shifted away from the wall behind Cayde and put himself between his Vanguard and danger. Thank the Traveler it had only been a fist and not a bullet he’d stepped in front of.

 

“Enough.” He says. Edge spits a mouthful of blood onto the floor and meets the Titan’s furious gaze head on. “This isn’t the time or place. And you know it.”

 

For a moment it looks like the Titan is going to say something, retaliate in some way. It’s the Warlock, Selma, that ultimately diffuses the situation. 

 

“Alex,” She touches the back of the Titan’s shoulder. “Please, let’s just go. Eliot wouldn’t… He wouldn’t want this. Please…”

 

It’s that last please that does it. All of that righteous fury drains out of the Titan’s frame and he slumps back in defeat. “You’re right,” he answers softly. “It’s not worth our time.” He gives Cayde one last murderous look over Edge’s shoulder before storming back up the steps, one arm around Selma’s shoulders.

 

“Well, that doesn’t happen every day.”

 

Edge wants to turn around and hit the Exo himself.

 

“Cayde that’s highly inappropriate.” Zavala snaps. The other Awoken had been silent through the entire exchange but now Edge can see the tension in his jaw from holding everything in. “What that fireteam went through is not something to be made light of.”

 

He doesn’t need to hear this. 

 

Edge shifts his jaw and pain licks across his face. He barely manages to suppress a wince as he gives Ikora a nod before making his way out of the Vanguard hall. Zavala is already starting in on Cayde with a lecture.

  
  
  
  


It’s barely an hour later, Edge in the galley of his ship when Cetus alerts him to a visitor. Edge’s hand automatically twitches toward the gun at his hip. A habit he can’t break himself of even after a few weeks of being on the Tower. 

 

“Who is it?” He asks.

 

Cetus buzzes around the main hatch as he reports “Hunter Vanguard, Cayde-6. Should I allow entry?”

 

Edge drops his hand from his gun, surprise throwing him off his game. “Of course.” What could Cayde want with him?

 

The hatch door slides open and Edge stands from his place at the galley table to greet Cayde as the Exo boards his ship. “What can I do for you, Vanguard?” He has no idea what Cayde is doing there and the confusion sits heavily in his chest like dread. Has he done something wrong?

 

“Oh, don’t look so scared. I’m not here ‘cause you’re in trouble.” The Exo’s tone of voice is at odds with his words. He certainly sounds like he’s going to get Edge into trouble. There’s something odd about the way he’s speaking. Some underlying emotion that Edge has never heard from him before. “And sit down would ya. You’re making me tired just from looking at you.”

 

Edge drops back into his chair. Cetus buzzes over his shoulder and hums reassuringly in his ear when Cayde takes a step closer. 

 

“Healed up pretty well, huh?” 

 

“Excuse me?” Edge has no idea what he’s referring to. 

 

Cayde reaches out and taps Edge’s jaw just under where the Titan had hit him. “Your Ghost seems to have patched you up pretty well. Not that you would have needed it in the first place if you’d’ve  been using your head for something other than a punching bag.”

 

Something like anger crackles under Edge’s skin and he jerks his head away from Cayde’s hand. “So I should have let him hit you instead?”

 

That flickering around Cayde’s mouth happens again like it had in the Vanguard Hall earlier and Edge’s eyes drop to look closer. The lights wink on and off in rapid succession before Cayde seems to find the right words.

 

“No,” he replies. There’s agitation there along with that something else that Edge still can’t place. “I don’t like getting punched just as much as the next guy. But you don’t need to defend my honor or any of that stupid fairy tale crap. If you wanted to go steady all you had to do was say so.”

 

It’s Edge turn to try and find words. He can feel something like a blush creeping up his neck. Heat traveling under his skin and drying up any words he might have said in his own defense. He can truthfully say that he’s never thought of the Vanguard like that before but now that the thought is there…

 

“I don’t-” he starts to say. 

 

Cayde interrupts him. “Look, don’t worry about it. I’ve turned down a handful of you Guardians this week alone. It’s nothing to get all bent out of shape over. It happens.” 

 

That heat very quickly turns from embarrassment to anger. Maybe he should have just let that Titan hit him.

 

“I’m a dashing rogue with a silver tongue. Who wouldn’t be a little bit in love at first sight?”

 

His right arm is still slightly numb but Edge still manages to clench both fists in his lap. The anger swirls up and mixes with the leftover embarrassment and turns into something not unlike lust. Cayde is charming and irritating and so goddamn smug that Edge would very much like to shut him up.

 

“But don’t worry. You’ll get over it in a couple of days. Everyone does.”

 

Edge still isn’t sure if he’s going to kiss the Exo or punch him until he’s already moved. 

 

He fists his numb hand in the scarf around Cayde’s neck and tugs him down and in. The cold metal of the Exo’s mouth against his lips is awkward at first. There’s no familiar give of another set of lips against his own but he gets over it. Pushes forward until Cayde has to either step away or push back. 

 

He pushes back.

 

A hand settles on Edge’s hip and Cayde surges forward to press him back against the little galley table. 

 

That angry heat inside him very quickly fizzles out and changes. Changes into something that he could let take him over completely. It’s been awhile since he let anyone else take control. Then Cayde’s words come back to him.

 

“I’m not like everyone else.” He says, pulling back just far enough to meet Cayde’s eyes. They’re very blue. There’s a spark of something like a memory that threatens to rise up and choke him. He pushes it down and shoves the thought back into the box he keeps locked up inside him. Not now.

 

Cayde chuckles and takes a step back. His eyes sweep over him from head to toe and Edge feels warm again from his gaze alone. “No,” he says. That blue gaze lingers on Edge’s jaw and Cayde brushes his thumb over the healed spot across his cheek. The Exo’s other hand is still a heavy weight on his hip. “No, I guess you’re not.”


End file.
